OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY Oregon’s Forest Action Plan Summary – Oregon's Forest Action Plan was developed in June 2010 by a team of Oregon Department of Forestry subject matter, geographic information and communications specialists to fulfill requirements of the 2008 Farm Bill that all States complete a Forest Assessment and Resource Strategy to maintain eligibility for U.S. Department of Forest Service State and Private Forestry funding for programs authorized by the federal Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act. Statewide Forest Assessment States were required to conduct an assessment of the current conditions of all forestland regardless of ownership type, and trends leading up to these conditions. In addition, states were required to identify threats to forests and opportunities for addressing threats. The final task of completing the assessment was to identify priority landscapes for implementing opportunities. What Oregon Did – Current conditions and trends leading up to these conditions were displayed in an external web-based Oregon's Forest Atlas. Threats and opportunities were organized around 6 priority issues – Communities at Risk of Wildfire, Maintain the Forestland Base, Diversity of Upland and Aquatic Habitats, Invasive Species, Water Quality and Climate Change. These are contained in Oregon’s DRAFT Statewide Forest Assessment Document. The issues were cross referenced to the USDA Forest Service’s National State and Private Forestry Themes and Subthemes and the Oregon Board of Forestry’s Goals for the Forestry Program for Oregon. Priority landscapes were developed for: 1) Urban/Rural Forest Priority Areas, 2) Communities at Risk of Wildfire, 3) Forests Vulnerable to Loosing Timber Markets, 4) Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation and 5) General Forestland Considerations (a composite prioritization across Communities at Risk of Wildfire, Forests Vulnerable to Loosing Timber Markets and Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation. Resource Strategy States were required to develop a five-year action plan describing how they were going to use USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry program – in conjunction with other state/business programs and initiatives to address the opportunities identified in the assessment. What Oregon Did – Oregon’s Resource Strategy includes a core business plan for the following USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry Programs: Community Forest and Open Space Conservation, Forest Health Protection, Forest Legacy, Forest Stewardship, State Fire Assistance, Tree Improvement, Urban and Community Forestry, Volunteer Fire Assistance and the Western States Fire Managers for Western Wildland Urban Interface. The Strategy also summarized the following Other Statewide Plans and Programs: Community Wildfire Protection Plans, Federal Land Management Plans, Oregon Conservation Strategy, Oregon Forest Practices Act, Oregon Invasive Species Action Plan, Oregon Land Use Planning Program, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, State Forest Management Plans, The National Fire Plan, Tribal Integrated Resource Management Plans and Other Private Forestland Assistance Programs administered by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the USDA Farm Service Agency, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition to core program functions, the Strategy identified 50 innovative long-term strategies for the coordinated investment from all sources – state, federal, non-governmental and private – to address Oregon’s priority forest issues. Oregon Department of Forestry – Oregon’s Forest Action Plan Implementation The USDA Forest Service requires that all State and Private Forestry Program federal grant narratives, as well as proposals to the Western States State and Private Forestry Competitive Grant Program, tier to the Action Plan. The Private Forest Division updated its Stewardship Potential geographic information systems layer for prioritizing delivery of the Forest Stewardship Program cost-share funds for forest management plans based on the assessment’s General Forestland Considerations priority landscape areas. Updating Oregon’s Forest Action Plan There is overlap between the Oregon's Forest Atlas and Oregon's Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management. The desire is to get Oregon’s Five-Year Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Report – combined with other key data sources such as Oregon’s Cooperative Aerial Survey == to meet Oregon’s assessment needs for current conditions and trends leading up to these conditions. Results should be communicated through a combination of Oregon’s On-Line Forest Atlas and the Oregon Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management. Oregon’s threats and opportunity write-ups for the priority issues are still in draft form. They have been reviewed by technical staff; but these comments have not been incorporated into the 2010 version. The issues need to be confirmed or modified and write-ups (threats and opportunities) updated accordingly. The following Priority Landscape Areas needs to be updated: Communities at Risk of Wildfire – This layer incorporated the landscape wildfire risk ratings as identified in the Departments 2006 fire risk assessment with minor modifications for the areas proximate to federal wilderness areas. This layer needs to be replaced by an updated version using the West-Wide [Fire] Risk Assessment data. Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation – This layer needs to be updated based on updated Oregon Forest Biodiversity data for all of Oregon’s 6th field watersheds (i.e., both forest and non- forest) and incorporated as part of the next version of the Oregon Conservation Strategy. Oregon’s Resource Strategy needs to be updated: Coordination with the federal land management agencies; most notably the USDA Forest Service National Forests and the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plans, Formal review and prioritization of the innovative long-term strategies for coordinated investment and adopted as a true 5-year plan for taking action. For example, in addition to affirming key core business functions, this plan should be used to prioritize and schedule Oregon Department of Forestry proposals to the Western States State and Private Forestry Competitive Grant Program. Prepared by Jim Cathcart, Private Forests Division, February 19, 2013 2 Oregon’s Forest Resource Strategy Federal Fiscal Years 2011 thru 2015 Coordinated and Strategic Investment of USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry Programs TABLE OF CONTENTS COORDINATED INVESTMENT – LONG-TERM STRATEGY SUMMARY MATRIX ...2 BACKGROUND ..........................................................................................................................19 PURPOSE ....................................................................................................................................20 STATE AND PRIVATE FORESTRY PROGRAM ELEMENTS ..........................................21 Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program .............................................21 Forest Health Protection Program ......................................................................................22 Forest Legacy .....................................................................................................................24 Forest Stewardship Program ..............................................................................................28 State Fire Assistance ..........................................................................................................30 Tree Improvement Program ...............................................................................................32 Urban and Community Forestry Program..........................................................................33 Volunteer Fire Assistance ..................................................................................................35 Western States Fire Managers for Western Wildland Urban Interface Program ...............36 OTHER STATEWIDE PLANS AND PROGRAMS ................................................................38 Community Wildfire Protection Plans ...............................................................................38 Federal Land Management Plans .......................................................................................39 Oregon Conservation Strategy ...........................................................................................41 Oregon Forest Practices Act ..............................................................................................42 Oregon Invasive Species Action Plan ................................................................................43 Oregon Land Use Planning Program .................................................................................44 Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds ..........................................................................46 Other Private Forestland Assistance Programs ..................................................................48 State Forest Management Plans .........................................................................................52 The National Fire Plan .......................................................................................................54 Tribal Integrated Resource Management Plans .................................................................55